August 12, 2018

The 14-year-old running for Governor of Vermont.

It's Ethan Sonneborn:



"Sonneborn thinks he can do it. 'My campaign transcends age,' he said. He possesses a preternatural self-assurance that’s not uncommon among politicians, but certainly is among teenagers who typically navigate the cutthroat politics of high school, not state government," WaPo reports.
If he wins [the primary], he’ll appear on the general election ballot as the Democratic nominee. Though it’s unlikely that Sonneborn will unseat Republican Gov. Phil Scott this November since the race is considered safely Republican, if he does somehow make it that far, “that’s up to the attorney general,” Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos said....
I'm giving this post my "using children in politics" tag to collect it with other "children in politics" posts, but I don't mean to express the view that Sonneborn is being used. He seems to be making his own decisions and speaking from his own head. If so, good for him.
What was most remarkable was not how his age affected his candidacy, but how it didn’t. Nobody — not the moderator [at the debate], not his opponents, not audience members who submitted questions — raised the subject or asked him if this was a good idea. It had come up in earlier interviews, but today, Sonneborn was just another candidate.

29 comments:

Rob said...

That kid is in dire need of a wedgie.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

What shade of red lipstick is he wearing?

Wince said...

Barney Frank discovered the Fountain of Youth?

robother said...

He seems more mature than Crazy Bernie, so I don't give him much chance in a Democrat primary. Vermont Democrats like more cowbell.

gspencer said...

The voters of Holyoke MA elected an early 20s mayor seven years ago (2011). And it shows. That city continues a down-spin despite being surrounded by lots of successful towns in the New England region. His latest and greatest - making Holyoke the marijuana capitol of New England, for growing, for consuming, for distribution. This as an overlay to having a huge welfare-dependent class. Liberalism in the Berkshires.

Tom T. said...

The Post is too polite to the Democrats to point out what a weak field that is. Inexperienced, single-issue, identity-politics candidates, and a state senator "who isn’t actually on the ballot and rejects traditional politicking."

MountainMan said...

So Vermont has no age requirement in its constitution for governor, just one for residency. Seems like a significant oversight.

Michael K said...

Well, they were crazy enough to elect Sanders and Dean.

tim in vermont said...

I blame all of the craziness in Vermont on Eisenhower. He built that damnable Interstate Highway System, and the VW Microbuses from the Tri-State area to our south started rolling in. It used to be solidly Republican. But note that the past couple of elections, conservatives have done pretty well for governor. The Democrat who won last time only took a plurality as the Libertarian and Republican parties took over 50% of the vote.

The Democrats enlisted the dairy farmers with promises of subsidies and cheap illegal labor, along with the Trustafarians, they have a coalition that wins the Federal elections. I think the smackdown they took on single-payer kind of chastened the state leven Democrats.

tim in vermont said...

Vermonters are not spendthrifts with their own money, but are more than happy to put the snout to the trough Federally.

tim maguire said...

"If he wins the primary"?

Is there any reason to think he'll get votes beyond his immediate family? Is there any reason to think he'll get even those?

Richard said...

If he were running in Minnesota, he would win in a heartbeat.

Yancey Ward said...

I don't follow Vermont politics, so I found the assertion that the seat is safely Republican quite odd given the partisan lean of the state itself. Surely any reasonable Democrat would have at least an even chance in the state.

Mrs. Bear said...

Are there no adult Democrats in Vermont willing to point out to this kid that what he is doing is absurd and a waste of everyone's time? Why are they willing to indulge this foolish fantasy? There are few enough adults probably who are worthy of being State Governors, but a fourteen year old boy? Is there something in the water up there?

tim in vermont said...

Think of Bernie as Fielding Mellish and it all makes sense.

tcrosse said...

If he were running in Minnesota, he would win in a heartbeat.

Only if he's lucky enough to run against Norm Coleman and Skip Humphrey.

Paul Zrimsek said...

Where the Post gets the idea that it's unusual for a 14-year-old to think he knows everything, I cannot imagine.

Paul Zrimsek said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mccullough said...

Kids are a minority in Vermont. It’s old and white with stagnant population growth like the rest of New England. Maybe this lad can bring some youthful enthusiasm to a dying state.

Alex said...

Isn't Vermont all a bunch of old socialist fucks?

The Godfather said...

He didn't say anything stupider than many a Democrat candidate thrice his age.

JAORE said...

Well, I understand lowering the voting age to 16 is just the swellest idea ever, so.....

MadisonMan said...

I would not vote for a 14-yo. A freshman in High School? Sophomore?

No. Heck no.

I'm sure it'll look great on his Harvard application though.

MadisonMan said...

And it makes me think: What the Heck are his parents thinking?

richard mcenroe said...

Caligula was reportedly a very self-assured young man, among Romans smart enough to keep their heads...

Rosalyn C. said...

When politics is all talk and no action anyone who can talk is qualified for the job. Vote for the candidate who talks the best/looks the best. Trump has shown that having a lifetime of practical experience in our economy is probably more effective preparation than a career as a professional politician.

No one wants to rain on a fourteen year old's parade though.

Unknown said...

In prairie days a 16-year-old paired with 14 and even 13 were given a slice if not the family farm, would run up a tab, children 1st year and and start dynasties. Farmers have more common sense than I and the IYI I know. Intellect and judgement are all that matter for this job. Good fortune to him, s/he and friends are our only hope. We only have to get out of the way.

Tom Grey said...

'My campaign transcends age,'
He said this?
They printed it.

It must be true, then. They're a newspaper.
They wouldn't print it if they didn't think it was true.

All it takes for him to win is ... the most votes. I'm pretty sure he's done less
bad stuff than any of the others.

Curt Lennix said...

Soft Tech Geeks is a chinese underground organisation of computer experts and hackers. We stay discrete in order to prevent the identity of our clients from FEDs and individuals.
• If Truly you Are In Need Of A PROFESSIONAL HACKER Who Will Get Your Job Done Efficiently With Swift Response, You Have Met the Right organisation.

HOW WE WORK:

• We don't ask personal questions about you and we dont give out our personal information.
We strictly do business and don't expose you or your service to you to anyone.
That's how discrete we are.
OUR HACKING SERVICES:
As long as technology is involved anything can be hacked. Most people want to Hack a target's email I.D, social media websites or apps, smartphones, for many reasons such as husband cheating on wife, girlfriend cheating on boyfriend Or important information needed to be dumped/sniffed from the target email address, website, a particular location, or for whatsoever reason you want to hire a Hacker Or As a parent you might need to monitor what your children are doing on social media and on their personal computers or even clone their phones to also hear their calls or see text messages on any app they chatting with, so that they don’t get into trouble. Or if you want to hack a private domain email account(business email), or you want to eraze your name from court’s criminal records, perhaps you might want to Hack into the database of any government agency, or you want to spend someone's money by cloning another credit card to their account without bank or the user's notification, All these are what we can get done within few hours.
OUR ASSURANCE TO YOU:
Fankly speaking, we always give a 100% guarantee on an job we take. Time to complete a job depends on the complication of the job and if we take your job then be rest assured that it will be done, and we give you a 100% assurance that we cover our tracks well enough, so when we do a job its like we were never there. We have also come across FAKE HACKERS claiming they will get the job done in a short time , and sharing testimony of themselves but they are all scams (AVOID THEM).
REMEMBER THIS "AS LONG AS IT'S TECHNOLOGY IT CAN BE HACKED"

We look forward to working for you.
SOFT TECH GEEKS
softtechgeeks@gmail.com